Want to waste less food? Buy a pig!

I wish I could get a pig!

I know this post might look weird to some of you but yesterday, while I was tying up a compost bag of food scraps and leftovers, I started thinking about my grandma. She lives in a little village called Madarjac, in my home country- Romania. Yes, we still have villages there and people still live in them!

My grandma is almost 67 and she and my grandpa have their little farm. Not for money or for profit, but for themselves. Most of the people who live in a romanian village are the same. They raise chicken so they can have their own eggs and their own chicken stock. The plant corn and vegetables, preserve them and keep them in baisments so they can have everything they need for the winter. They don’t have a truck picking up their trash, but they throw their trash in the back of their garden. Yard trimmings and other organic leftovers. No,they don’t use trash bags and they don’t have recycling because they have nothing to recycle or throw away.

My grandparents have a horse and a carriage, they have a cow to give them fresh milk every night, they have cats and dogs to guard their household and to eat the leftover mămăligă (Romanian traditional polenta), they have ducks and they also have a pig .

Now you might wonder where am I getting with this pig thing. Well, the pig gets all the “goodies” – all the food scraps and leftovers that we would normally throw away, go into the pig’s food. Why, you might wonder? Well, carrot peels, onion ends and even corn cobs are packed of nutrients and vitamins and they are still a good source of food. But for us people, they are trash.

Here are some eye-opening Worldwide Food Waste Facts:

Every year, consumers in industrialized countries waste almost as much food as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (222 million vs. 230 million tons)

The amount of food lost and wasted every year is equal to more than half of the world’s annual cereals crops (2.3 billion tons in 2009/10)

In the USA, organic waste is the second highest component of landfills, which are the largest source of methane emissions

In the USA, 30-40% of the food supply is wasted, equaling more than 20 pounds of food per person per month

The list could go on and on for pages in a row.

I am wondering how we got here, but in the back of my mind I already know : we are selfish, greedy little animals that take everything for granted and get offended when we are told to share or to at least pick up our mess.

So yes, I wish I could get a pig and give him all the food leftovers of this world. That would be a very fat pig!

Oh but wait! There is starving children out there, isn’t there? I thought I heard something about a war in some far, God-forsaken place. It’s okay… they will survive, I will keep making my meals and over consuming and over wasting, over poluting BUT under caring, under sharing, under taking responsibility . I will just pretend like things are not there and they are not as bad as everyone said and mostly that they are not my concern.

I urge you, please don’t be indifferent. I know life carries us away and we tend to forget about our brothers and sisters from all around the world who are dying every day because they simply don’t have any food. But see? If all of us would love God and treat all people in this world as if they were our brothers and sisters, things would be different. It would be harder for us to just stand and watch while things happen, while kids die of starvation every day.

So many people say: But I barely have enough to feed myself and my family. Okay then.. do you or your kids look like this kid in the picture below? Then you might have an excuse!

What can you do?

waste less or no food at all! be mindful about what you buy and what you eat.

volunteer at shelters, red cross or any place that helps starving people

donate for important causes – on the UNICEF website there is a page where you can donate to the starving kids affected by the war in Yemen or other countries, as well as a ton of other very important causes. I think we could all spare some of our luxuries and help these kids from once in a while. Or you can donate with UNICEF here for the kids and babies that are starving because of the Yemen war.

I wish I could get a pig…and feed him all of the world’s selfishness and greediness.

With love,

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Mother of daughters and wife. I am passionate about helping you turn your way of living into a natural and inspiring one. From healthy and yummy cooking to green cleaning tips, waste-free lifestyle guidance, day to day inspiration, crafts and kid-friendly activities, I've got you covered! Add in some mom-centered advice and some Christian orthodox faith and you will want to come back! Read More…

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